DO HIGH-STATUS GROUPS DISCRIMINATE MORE? DIFFERENTIATING BETWEEN SOCIAL IDENTITY AND EQUITY CONCERNS

2001 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 209-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivier Klein ◽  
Assaad Azzi

A number of studies have found that high status groups tend to discriminate more than low status groups. This tendency can be interpreted as reflecting either a desire to maintain a positive social identity or an application of equity. An experiment was conducted in order to examine the roles of these two factors. The independent variables were status (high vs. low), and the nature of the relation between the dimension on which status was defined and the dimension on which in-group bias was measured (relation, no relation). When the two dimensions were related, equity was expected to be relevant. Therefore it was predicted that the status differential would be reproduced through the allocations. Contrary to this hypothesis, neither the high nor the low status group displayed in-group favoritism in this condition. The authors suggest that the use of two related dimensions rather than only one, as in previous studies, is responsible for such a discrepancy. It was further predicted that when the two dimensions were unrelated, equity would be irrelevant and therefore members of both groups would display in-group bias on the new dimension-either as a means of preserving a positive social identity or in order to achieve one. This second hypothesis was confirmed.

2018 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincenzo Iacoviello ◽  
Fabio Lorenzi-Cioldi

Abstract. Research suggests that members of low-status groups are more likely than members of high-status groups to show self-depersonalization and to favor ingroup members over outgroup members. The present research tests two alternative explanations of this status asymmetry: One explanation is based on the motive for achieving a positive social identity, and the other explanation is based on the willingness to cope with a social identity threat. Three minimal group experiments examine these two explanations. Supporting the identity motive explanation, the findings show that self-depersonalization (Studies 1–3) and ingroup favoritism (Study 3) are less prominent in the high-status group than in the low-status and the status-unspecified groups. Moreover, the results do not support the identity threat explanation because self-depersonalization and ingroup favoritism were not weaker in the low-status group than in the status-unspecified group.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 289-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chuma Kevin Owuamalam ◽  
Mark Rubin

Previous research has demonstrated that, when negative metastereotypes are made salient, members of low status groups help members of high status groups in order to improve the reputation of their low status group and its associated social identity. The present research investigated three potential moderators of low status groups’ outgroup helping: ingroup identification, audience group membership, and perceived reputational benefit. In Study 1 (N = 112) we found that members of a low status group (Keele University students) were most likely to offer to help raise funds for a high status group (University of Birmingham students) when they were high identifiers who had considered a negative metastereotype and believed that their responses would be viewed by an outgroup member. In Study 2 (N = 100) we found a similar effect in an intergroup context that referred to psychology students (low status ingroup) and junior doctors (high status outgroup), showing that the effect was limited to people who perceived reputational benefit in helping the outgroup. The practical and social implications of these findings are discussed in relation to intergroup contact and international relations.


2012 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Loris Vezzali ◽  
Luca Andrighetto ◽  
Elena Trifiletti ◽  
Emilio Paolo Visintin

We examined whether perceptions of status (in)stability moderate the effects of ingroup identification on explicit and implicit intergroup attitudes. We expected that identification with Italians (low-status group) would enhance ingroup bias toward (US) Americans (high-status group) more when status was unstable rather than stable. We also predicted that the effects of identification on bias would be driven by ingroup enhancement for explicit attitudes and by both ingroup enhancement and outgroup derogation for implicit attitudes. The results revealed that identification increased explicit ingroup evaluation and ingroup bias independently from status (in)stability. However, identification increased implicit outgroup derogation only with unstable status. The results are discussed with reference to social identity theory and to the importance of considering both explicit and implicit attitudes.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 358-366
Author(s):  
Cristina Mosso ◽  
Silvia Russo

Previous research within the social identity framework has shown that perceptions of legitimacy and stability of status differences interactively determine cognitive, emotional, and behavioural responses to intergroup contexts. Whether such perceptions affect subtle forms of prejudice, namely infrahumanisation, is unknown. We examined if the perceptions regarding high status stability and legitimacy are associated to the infrahumanisation bias. We hypothesized that participants perceiving status differences as unstable and legitimate would report higher levels of infrahumanization than those who perceive status differences as stable and/or illegitimate. Participants (N = 439 Italian students enrolled in psychology courses) completed a structured paper-and-pencil questionnaire. We found that participants tended to attribute more negative secondary emotions to their ingroup (Italians) than to the outgroup (immigrants from Africa), indicating the presence of an infrahumanization bias. The results of a moderated regression aimed at predicting infrahumanization showed that high-status group members who perceived status differences as legitimate and unstable reported higher levels of infrahumanization than their counterparts did. The results attest the important and independent role of the perceptions related to the status for the debate on intergroup relations.


2012 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefano Pagliaro ◽  
Francesca Romana Alparone ◽  
Maria Giuseppina Pacilli ◽  
Angelica Mucchi-Faina

We examined how members of a low status group react to a social identity threat. We propose that expressing an ambivalent evaluation toward the ingroup may represent a way to manage such a threatening situation. For this study, 131 undergraduates’ identification with Italians was assessed. Participants were divided into groups, according to a situational identity threat (high vs. low). In line with hypotheses, low identifiers expressed more ambivalence toward the ingroup in the high (vs. low) threat condition. The reversed pattern emerged for high identifiers. This effect was mediated by the perception of intragroup variability, a well-known social creativity strategy. Results confirmed our interpretation of ambivalence as a form of social creativity, and are discussed in terms of social identity concerns.


2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick J. Munhall ◽  
Mark Alicke ◽  
G. Daniel Lassiter ◽  
Amy Rosenblatt ◽  
Leah Collins ◽  
...  

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dagmar Stahlberg ◽  
Marc-Andre Reinhard ◽  
Matthias Messner
Keyword(s):  

2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 310-317 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean O'Dwyer ◽  
Aideen Dowling ◽  
Catherine C. Adley

Determining the likelihood that groundwater contains faecal coliforms can aid water resource management in facilitating the protection of drinking water supplies. This study assesses the incidence of the faecal indicator organism Escherichia coli in 125 private water supplies (PWSs) serving individual houses in the Mid-West Region of Ireland. Two factors, aquifer type and rainfall (mm), were chosen as independent variables that can affect the vulnerability of a groundwater body. Using a geographical information system, the relative hydrogeological and climatological features unique to each sampling location were derived. Utilising this information, a logistic regression (LR) model was used to predict the probability of contamination of PWSs with E. coli. The model contained two independent variables: rainfall (mm; p < 0.001) and aquifer characteristics (p = 0.001). The full model, containing both predictors, was statistically significant at p < 0.001, indicating that the model distinguished between the independent variables' relationship to the incidence of contamination. The likelihood of E. coli contamination is greater with increased rainfall and in areas where a bedrock aquifer is dominant. The LR model explained between 27.4% (Cox and Snell R squared) and 36.8% (Nagelkerke R squared) of the variance in contamination and correctly classified 75.2% of cases.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 187
Author(s):  
Hossein Safarzadeh ◽  
Alireza Soloukdar ◽  
Ali Alipour ◽  
Seyedeh Akram Parpanchi

Emotion and power have been studied very deeply especially during the last decade; however, the common effects of these two factors on individuals' optional behaviors (organizational citizenship, anti-productivity, unethical behaviors) have been less focused. In the present paper, the role of individuals' emotionality, their interest in power, and their tendency to unethical behaviors will be discussed according to the model of Levine. Three questionnaires were distributed and the collected data were analyzed using Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient, Multiple Regression, and T- test. Findings indicated that there is a significant relationship between the two independent variables of emotionality and power and tendency to unethical behaviors. Moreover, according to the results of the tests, men are more emotion-oriented and power seekers than women. Keywords: Power, Emotion, Ethical Behaviors


2018 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 237802311877175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pamela Emanuelson ◽  
David Willer

Status characteristics theory and elementary theory are applied to explain developments through three structural forms that chiefdoms are known to take. Theoretic models find that downward mobility inherent in the first form, the status-lineage structure, destabilizes its system of privilege. As a consequence, high-status actors are motivated to find mechanisms to preserve and enhance privilege. By engaging in hostile relations with other chiefdoms, high-status actors offer protection to low-status others from real or imagined threats. Through that protection, they gain tribute and support. The result is structural change from influence based on status to power exercised through indirect coercion, the second structural form. In settled societies, accumulation through war and selective redistribution contribute to separation of warrior and commoner rankings. That separation leads to the third structural form, direct coercive chiefdom.


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